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The Return Of Tikkanen The Agitator

THE night three years ago when the Rangers won the Stanley Cup, one by one they skated around Madison Square Garden holding the trophy aloft, then they gathered on the ice with it for the photographers.

By now his teammates had relaxed somewhat, but Esa Tikkanen, his mouth open with laughter, mussed Coach Mike Keenan's hair with both hands.

Even in the celebration, the hockey player known as Tikk couldn't resist agitating. Even, if not especially, his own martinet coach.

And last night, a Ranger again in the 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals after a four-player trade with the Vancouver Canucks, the 32-year-old Finn skated with agitation and acceleration, once crashing into goaltender Bill Ranford.

When Tikkanen talks, listen closely. His words flow into a flood of consciousness. When the Rangers' coach, Colin Campbell, was asked if Tikkanen had paired with Russ Courtnall, the other new Ranger, as penalty killers on the Canucks, he laughed.

On the Rangers' journey to their first Stanley Cup in 54 years, Tikkanen would yell along the bench to Sergei Zubov, the Russian defenseman now with the Dallas Stars.

''Tikk was yelling in what sounded like a mix of Finnish, Russian and English,'' the coach recalled. ''Zubey would just make a face. He had no idea what Tikk was saying.''

Neither did opponents. That season he scored 22 goals and added 4 in the playoffs. With the Canucks this season after needing knee surgery, he scored 11 goals, but he was obtained for what Neil Smith, the Rangers' general manager, described as his ''antagonistic'' value.

''He was easy to use,'' Campbell said last night. ''He's very dimensional. He lifts the intensity level.''

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He was cheered at the opening face-off, and the scoreboard flashed ''Welcome Back Esa'' for the center-left wing who will try to get under the skin of Eric Lindros and Doug Gilmour.

''They will be a good challenge,'' Tikkanen said.

Wayne Gretzky was a good challenge, too. He and Tikkanen were teammates, along with Mark Messier, when the Edmonton Oilers won four Stanley Cups, but after Gretzky was traded to Los Angeles, Tikkanen often infuriated him. So much so that when the broadcaster John Davidson asked Gretzky to select the National Hockey League's best checker, Gretzky named somebody else.

''I don't want Tikk to know anything,'' Gretzky said.

Now they're teammates again on the Rangers, along with Messier, who once called Tikkanen one of the N.H.L.'s five best all-round players. Tikkanen isn't quite that good anymore, but Messier touts his ''character'' as a competitor.

''He has the ability to raise his game,'' Messier said. ''The bigger the game, the better he plays.''

In sending Sergei Nemchinov and Brian Noonan to Vancouver, the Rangers hope that Tikkanen and Courtnall, with his skating speed as Messier's new right wing, will raise the Rangers into the No. 4 position (with home-ice advantage) for the Eastern Conference playoffs. With last night's victory, the Rangers were only 2 points behind fourth-place Florida.

''It's difficult to make yourself hugely better in trades,'' said Campbell, who knows Smith is still hoping to make another move before Tuesday's deadline. ''We hope to make our team 10 percent better with every move we make.''

The way the Rangers had been struggling, even that 10 percent would probably not be enough for them to get deep into the playoffs, but Tikkanen provides the presence of an old pro with five Stanley Cup rings.

''When the pressure level was there, Tikk knew how to react,'' Campbell said, alluding to the 1994 playoffs. ''When the goalie is pulled, in a tie game, in overtime, those are the players that win. Stress isn't stress to them. Stress is opportunity. If they take a bad penalty, they think they'll come out of the penalty box and score.''

Or, in Esa Tikkanen's case, at least come out of the penalty box and agitate an opponent into a mistake.

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A version of this article appears in print on March 13, 1997, on Page B00013 of the National edition with the headline: The Return Of Tikkanen The Agitator. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe